My Favorite Robin Williams Movie – Awakenings – The One That Always Makes Me Cry

August 13, 2014Awakenings, movies, Oliver Sacks, Our News & Commentary Blog, Robin WilliamsAwakenings, Oliver Sacks, Robin WilliamsStephen Drake

…usually write here. I won’t feel offended if no one wants to read biographical info. 😉 Here – mostly – is what I wrote ten years ago: My stories tend to reflect both my life and my thought processes. Linearity is not one of the major themes in my life. Peter Knoblock, my advisor as a masters student, gifted me with the term “divergent thinker” – “divergent” tends to characterize my life and stories like this as well. In 1990, the movie Awakenings…

John Kelly Quoted in NPR Thanksgiving Day Article on POLST

December 1, 2013Institute of Medicine, john kelly, life-sustaining treatment, Massachusetts, media coverage, MOLST, Nancy Shute, National POLST Paradigm Task Force, NPR, Our News & Commentary Blog, POLST, Susan TolleDiane Coleman

…“re(garding)”. And if you really want to be accurate in reflecting the medical profession’s intent in promoting POLST, you’d say “against” or “vs” because there seems to be a far from subtle POLST bias against life-sustaining treatment. In fact, as NPR’s After the Cranberries and Pie, Let’s Talk About Death by Nancy Shute explains: “Because it’s signed by a doctor or other provider, a POLST has teeth. It overrides the legal obligation of an EMT or…

Archdiocese of Boston Newspaper Features Interview with ‘Second Thoughts’ Director John Kelly

September 2, 2012assisted suicide, disability activists, disability rights, disability rights advocates, john kelly, Massachusetts, media coverage, Our News & Commentary Blog, reality check, Second ThoughtsStephen Drake

…to move the context of the assisted suicide debate beyond simplified political divisions, “between conservative ‘right to life’ and religious groups on one side, and ‘liberals’ who support individual choice on the other.” Second Thoughts says it encourages voters “to look at assisted suicide in the real world” which it says is one “where insurance companies and other organizations try to limit spending on health care”; “where disabled people face…

Disabilityscoop fails to get the real scoop – Disability, organ transplantation and the HHS

September 21, 2012ari ne'eman, Autistic Self-Advocacy Network, disabilityscoop, discrimination, HHS, national council on independent living, national disability leadership alliance, organ donation, organ transplants, Our News & Commentary BlogStephen Drake

…e Coleman. The NDLA representatives urged HHS to “issue strong and unequivocal legal guidance” on these issues. NCIL will continue to advocate strongly against policies that have recently resulted in clear cases of disability discrimination in life or death situations. In three short paragraphs, the NCIL report informs readers who was at the meeting and exactly what issues were covered. Earlier today, disabilityscoop, an online publication that de…

Three MDs weigh in on assisted suicide

October 5, 2012assisted suicide, Ballot Question 2, boston globe, medical issues, medical killings, op-ed, Our News & Commentary BlogStephen Drake

…with the poison, all in the name of autonomy. To embrace suicide as a medical treatment is to cut at the heart of what unites us as a Commonwealth. Dr. Jane A. Driver Boston The writer is in the division of aging at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and is assistant professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School. Dr. Marcia Angell (“A method for dying with dignity,” Op-ed, Sept. 29) wrote that the Massachusetts Medical Society opposed physician-ass…